Pop Art/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, peruses a display of art created by a robot, Moby. He walks over to Moby. TIM: Gee whiz, did you paint anything but self-portraits? All of the artwork Tim has viewed has Moby's image or name on it. MOBY: Beep. Moby points to a piece of art. TIM: I stand corrected. The piece uses the face of Tim's friend, Rita, as the face of the Statue of Liberty. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Hey, Tim and Moby. Could you tell me about pop art, and who started the whole idea? From, Lilly. TIM: We'd be happy to answer your question, especially since Moby here has become our area's number one pop artist. Not that he had a lot of competition. In a nutshell, Lilly, pop art is an artistic movement that flourished during the 1960s. It treats ordinary items, stuff you'd find in everyday life, as art. At first glance, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Like, who would make a painting of a soup can, and how could they sell it for thousands of dollars? Or, why would anyone paint a panel from a comic book? Side by side images show a painting of a soup can and a comic book panel showing a dog. MOBY: Beep. Moby shrugs his shoulders. TIM: As a pop artist, you should know these things. Anyway, pop art was a reaction against traditional views of art and culture. See, art was generally thought of as high culture. It was supposed to express big, important ideas, powerful emotional experiences, and stuff like that. An image shows the classic Mona Lisa painting. TIM: On the other hand, elements of low culture, like comic books, popular magazines, and consumer products, were viewed as brainless, cheap, and disposable. An image shows a garbage can filled with the type of low culture items Tim describes. It is side by side with the classic art painting. TIM: By treating low culture as high art, pop artists did two things. First, they celebrated the vibrancy and fun of American popular culture. Second, they challenged the public's idea of what art was supposed to be, and did so in a humorous, clever way. MOBY: Beep? TIM: For example, art was supposed to be unique and irreplaceable. But pop artists often used mass production techniques, allowing them to copy their artwork over and over. An image shows the famous pop artist Andy Warhol using silk screening to produce copies of his soup can art. TIM: They also challenged the way that art was supposed to be appreciated. Traditionally, high art was exhibited in galleries and museums. But pop artists often played with these spaces by, say, arranging the gallery to look like a store or supermarket. Side by side images show people viewing high art in a gallery, and a pop art display arranged to look like a store. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, they were mocking the art world, right to its face. In particular, they were reacting to an art movement called abstract expressionism, which was adored by critics in the 1950s. An image shows an artist, wearing a medal that reads "World's Most Important Artist," standing in front of an abstract expressionist painting. TIM: This art was supposed to convey intense personal emotions through bold shapes, colors, and patterns. Pop art was the opposite, instead of abstract swirls of paint, it depicted people and objects realistically. Side by side images show an abstract painting and a realistic painting of gumball machines. TIM: And the images weren't supposed to be deeply personal or rooted in emotion. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Funny you should ask. Even though pop art celebrated America, the movement began in Britain. During the 1950s, English artists like Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi began assembling collages that spoofed American culture. Take a look at this one; it crams several slices of American pop culture into one image. The collage shows a famous American actress, famous cartoon character, a can of tuna, a plate of fruits, and a glass of orange juice. TIM: Meanwhile, in America, a few artists began using everyday objects in their work. Jasper Johns painted images of flags, maps, and targets, and Robert Rauschenberg made collages from photographs and other materials. Side by side images shows Johns' painting of flags and Rauschenberg's collage of a U.S. President, an astronaut, and other things. TIM: But true pop art really started in the 1960s. It was then that Roy Lichtenstein began producing paintings inspired by comic book panels. An image shows a Lichtenstein painting based on a comic book panel. TIM: And Claes Oldenburg turned ordinary objects, like food, into sculpture. An image shows an Oldenburg sculpture of desserts. TIM: Meanwhile, some artists, like Pauline Boty, made political pieces in the pop style. An image shows a Boty collage that uses pictures of two American presidents, political images of police abuse, and war imagery. TIM: And others, like Idelle Weber, focused on scenes from everyday life. An image shows Weber's work of men in suits riding an escalator. TIM: But in a crowded field, no one defined pop art like Andy Warhol. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Right. The soup can guy. Who you happen to be dressed as right now. Moby is dressed as Warhol. He wears a wig and glasses and Warhol's signature black clothes. TIM: Before becoming a fine artist, he was a commercial illustrator, designing things like magazine ads and greeting cards. An image shows Warhol in front of a large soup can painting. TIM: So it's no surprise that many of his paintings focused on consumer products and celebrity photographs from magazine. Side by side images shows paintings of boxes of soap pads and a famous actress. TIM: Warhol really embraced the whole mass-production idea; most of his paintings were silkscreened, and he called his studio "The Factory!" He became a major celebrity, and dabbled in filmmaking, publishing, music, and lots of other stuff. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, like any artistic trend, pop art faded in popularity over the years. But it never really went away. Some of the original 1960s pop artists are still producing artwork. And their idea influenced a new generation of artists, like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami. Side by side images show Koons' work of a large balloon poodle, and Murakami's work of a smiley face cartoon. TIM: Hey, the first review of your show is in. "There is a crime in progress at the Metropolitan Gallery. The victim: contemporary art. The perpetrator: a mysterious character calling himself 'Mr. Moby.' The crime: banal image theft of the crudest sort. Mr. Moby wallows in a sea of stunted adolescence, where no gimmick is too cheap, no cliché beneath contempt. No wonder he disguises himself in a robot costume." Moby walks away. TIM: Wait, it goes on. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Arts & Music Transcripts